Acute ketamine administration modulates glutamatergic neurotransmission and functional brain activation in prefrontal cortex implications for major depression
Pharmacopsychiatry September 1, 2011 Milan Scheidegger, A Henning, Martin Walter et al.
A subanaesthetic dose of ketamine alters brain activity during emotional processing and increases glutamate-glutamine cycling in the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, a region linked to mood regulation. In 23 healthy subjects, ketamine infusion changed fMRI responses to emotional pictures, and these changes correlated with shifts in glutamine-to-glutamate ratios measured by spectroscopy. The findings suggest ketamine's rapid antidepressant effect may stem from enhanced glutamatergic neurotransmission.